Customer Reviews

Tenorist

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a great player. To my ear, Bergonzi combines the disciplined cool of the Tristano school with the chops and spirit of late middle period John Coltrane. The quartet sounds just fine, pianoless, with a solid, but unobtrusive rhythm section. Abercombie provides excellent and empathic comping, interplay and solo work. Bergonzi plays a lot on this CD. Both in terms of solo time, and in terms of the depth and breadth of his playing. I knew his name - as a session man, I guess - but never really knew his playing until I heard this. On this CD I hear a real master at work. If you love contemporary tenor playing this is a great find.

I am a relatively new convert to Bergonzi. Saw him a few times, many years ago with Brubeck. I was impressed then but kind of filed him away as an interesting player that I didn't come across again. I don't recall how I first heard this CD, but I liked it and picked it up. I play my music on random, and each time this disc came up, it drew my attention. The playing is intricate and sensitive. Very rich; very intelligent. Bergonzi is obviously an architect of the excellent solo. But there is no waiting; he gets right down to it. I am deeply impressed. Unfortunately, its rare to come across musicianship this accomplished and this subtle. My only wish is that he (Bergonzi) would play with a guitarist more frequently. What I've heard of his other recent CDs, is equally impressive, including the excellent "Three for all," but the addition of the guitar on this CD adds just a bit more. Of course it may be Abercrombie, who is in a class by himself, but there are other fine guitarists out there who could do the job.